Janelle Monáe to Star in Space Race Drama Hidden Figures

Playing mathematician Mary Jackson

Photo by Jason LaVeris via Getty Images

Janelle Monáe has landed a starring role in the forthcoming drama Hidden Figures, which tells the story of three women of color pivotal to the Space Race. As the Wrap points out, she'll portray Mary Jackson, a NASA mathemetician involved in 1962's Friendship 7 mission, which made John Glenn the first American to orbit Earth. Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Kevin Costner are also set to star in the film, which is directed by Ted Melfi (St. Vincent). Update (4/6, 5:20 p.m.): Pharrell has signed on as a producer for Hidden Figures, USA Today reports. Fellow producer Donna Gigliotti also said he will create "the entire musical palette of the film." Read Pharrell's statement about his involvement below.

I don't feel like we celebrate enough mathematicians as it is, let alone an African-American female at such a time having to use a bathroom all the way on the other side of the campus just because that's the way it is....You can't believe what she went through and stayed amazingly focused on the greater goal.